Top Items:
Greg Sandoval / CNET News:
Sources: Apple to expand DRM-free music, new pricing — Apple has cut deals that will finally enable iTunes to offer songs free of copy protection software from the three largest music labels, according to two sources close to the negotiations. In exchange, Apple has agreed to become more flexible on pricing, the sources said.
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider, VentureBeat, FierceMobileContent, Gizmodo Australia, hypebot, AppleInsider, TeleRead, Music Ally, I4U News, louisgray.com, The iPhone Blog, CrunchGear, Epeus' epigone, Insanely Great Mac, Boy Genius Report, Technologizer, 9 to 5 Mac, MacNN, Macsimum News, Technology Live, Mashable! and Edible Apple
Motorola Media Center:
Motorola Unveils World's First Mobile Phone Made Using Recycled Water Bottle Plastics and New 3G Touch Tablet with Customizable Home Screen — Latest devices to be displayed at 2009 International CES in Las Vegas — Las Vegas - CES - Jan. 6, 2009 - Today Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) …
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Kent German / CNET News:
Surfing with the Motorola A3100 — Motorola got a jump start on CES when it announced its new crop of phones two days before the show opens. The most high-end of the bunch is the new Surf A3100 smartphone, which offers an expansive touch screen and support for Windows Mobile 6.1.
Discussion:
Electronista
Dan York / Disruptive Telephony:
Skype 2.8 Beta for Mac OS X provides screen sharing, WiFi access, chat features and Twitter-like mood messages — Tonight out at the “ShowStoppers” event at MacWorld in San Francisco, Skype announced the new 2.8 Beta for Mac OS X. The new version will apparently be available for download tomorrow, January 6, 2009, from Skype's website.
Daniel Terdiman / CNET News:
Early returns show strong holiday video game console sales — Updated at 5:28 p.m. to include additional data and analyst perspective. — Though the retail economy suffered what appears to be one of the bleakest holiday seasons in recent memory, it looks as though the video games industry bucked that disastrous trend.
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Jessica Dolcourt / CNET News:
SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone announced — Six months after announcing its intention to bring SlingPlayer to the iPhone 3G, Sling Media has another announcement to make—just not the one you're wishing for. — SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone isn't ready yet, Sling said on Tuesday, but it is on its way.
Discussion:
Zatz Not Funny!, Macworld, PC Magazine, Gizmodo, Technologizer, iPhone Buzz, TechCrunch, Mobility Site, The Technology Chronicles, Boy Genius Report, I4U News, techeblog.com, TUAW and Ubergizmo
Dan Whitworth / BBC:
Facebook ‘sets Christmas record’ — Facebook has set a new record as it had its busiest day ever over the Christmas holidays. — The social networking site accounted for one in every 22 online visits on Christmas Day, according to internet research company Hitwise.
BIZ / Twitter Blog:
Monday Morning Madness — This morning we discovered 33 Twitter accounts had been “hacked” including prominent Twitter-ers like Rick Sanchez and Barack Obama (who has not been Twittering since becoming the president elect due to transition issues). We immediately locked down the accounts and investigated the issue.
Discussion:
Bits, Tech Central, Geek News Central, Chicago Sun Times, The Blog Herald, Bloggers Blog, Technically Incorrect, Blogging Pro, bit-tech.net, PC World, Security Watch, unstruc chitchatting …, Don Park's Daily Habit, Twitterrati, All About Nortel, Infosecurity.US, MarketingVOX, internetnews.com, Computerworld, The Register, The Social, InformationWeek, L.A. Times Tech Blog and Twitter Status
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Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:Following The Twitter Hack Trail To DigitalGangster
Discussion:
Music Ally
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
HP unleashes a series of new low-cost computers at CES — Hewlett-Packard is launching a bevy of new products today that show it is designing its products to take into account the lighter pocketbooks and energy usage concerns of consumers. — These products being unveiled this week …
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PC World:
AMD: Creating a New Laptop Category (PC World) — Netbooks have their appeal—tiny budget machines with just enough oomph to run Windows XP. Ultraportables have horsepower in spades, but they cost too much to suit some people. This year we're going to see a whole new category of notebook …
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Arik Hesseldahl / Business Week:
Was Apple ‘Adequate but Late’ on Jobs? — Some corporate governance experts question whether the tech giant could have been more forthcoming about its CEO's hormone imbalance — Apple (AAPL) investors got answers to some of their nagging questions about the health of the company's chief executive …
Discussion:
Big Tech, dot.life blog, MacDailyNews, Infinite Loop, Business Week, Profy and mathewingram.com/work
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Susanna Leng / The Official Google Blog:
Introducing Picasa for Mac (at Macworld!) — Sometimes I find it hard to describe Picasa without sounding like a late-night infomercial for a multi-bladed thingamabob: “It's a photo organizer! A photo editor! A web-savvy photo sharing and management system in just one tiny package!”
Discussion:
Google Mac Blog, The Register, geeksugar, The Mac Observer, Lifehacker, Gear Live, O'Grady's PowerPage, Epicenter, Macsimum News, TechCrunch, Mashable!, Infinite Loop and Obsessable
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InfoWorld:
Bringing Macs into business: Real-life IT stories — As more businesses bring Apple Macintoshes into their regular operations, IT has to figure out how to ensure the Macs play well in the typical Windows-dominated environments. Several companies share the lessons — good and bad — that they have learned.
Discussion:
The Register
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch UK:
If a 13 year-old can launch a startup you have no excuse — “My name's Scott. I'm 13 and have launched a web startup.” So began an email exchange over last weekend which culminated with me chatting to Scott's mum today to verify, that, indeed, he was actually 13 and really had launched a blogging site for people in Scotland.
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
MediaSentry may be gone, but RIAA tactics will live on — The Wall Street Journal reported Monday (subscription) that the Recording Industry Association of America has dropped long-time P2P investigator MediaSentry in favor of European firm DtecNet. — The move comes as the RIAA switches tactics …
Gizmodo Australia:
New Kogan Agora Shots Get Us Excited For Android All Over Again — Australia's first Android phone, the Kogan Agora, is only a few weeks away from its official release, and they've decided to keep us excited by sending us these spy shots of it in action. While the photos aren't fantastic …
Ryan Paul / Ars Technica:
Debian 5 release approaches... binary blobs included — The developers behind the Debian Linux distribution are preparing for the upcoming release of Debian 5, which is codenamed Lenny. The decision to move forward with the release follows a contentious vote over whether to permit the inclusion …
Discussion:
Linux-Watch.com
Liz Gannes / NewTeeVee:
Time Spent Watching Video Jumps 40% in One Year — One way to think about online video is to consider how big a chunk it takes out of our daily lives. The amount of time U.S. Internet users spend watching video is up an impressive 40 percent year over year.
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Electronista:
HP updates Mini 2x netbooks with Atom, 10in LCD — HP in its pre-CES run-up introduced its first major update to its Mini 2100 netbook. The Mini 2140 replaces the Mini-Note 2133 and abandons VIA's C7-M processor in favor of a 1.6GHz Intel Atom that HP claims should extend its battery life …
Discussion:
LinuxWorld.com, Business Wire, Engadget, UMPCPortal, jkOnTheRun, Gizmodo, GPS Obsessed and DisplayBlog
